Not With A Bang, But With A Song: ‘Sad Max’ Is One Man’s Musical Apocalypse

Los Angeles, California – (March 18th, 2012)

Teague Chrystie and Jim Frommeyer (“A Very Calvin and Hobbes Christmas”) are proud to announce the official release of their 28-minute original musical, “Sad Max.” Written, directed, edited and performed by Chrystie, host of the popular film commentary podcast “Down in Front” in his first-ever acting performance, and produced by Frommeyer, “Sad Max” is the kind of project that could only happen in the age of YouTube. The musical is about a YouTube celebrity who was famous for his piano tutorials, and the musical itself is accompanied by actual YouTube piano tutorials for every song in the show. The film, the soundtrack and the tutorials are all available for free on YouTube and SadMaxMusical.com, making this project a celebration of all the things modern internet video can be.

PLOT SUMMARY

Before the world ended, Max (Chrystie), was a pretty high-profile YouTube user, posting tutorials and cover songs on his channel and struggling with his inability to write music he liked. After the apocalypse, he is trapped in his basement without food, water, an internet connection or an audience; all he has is a pet fish, a camera, and a piano. To stave off madness and crippling existential crisis, he spends his last days doing the one thing he had never been able to do before: writing a musical that he can be proud of.

Teague Chrystie is a visual FX artist (“The Pacific,” “Fringe,” “Battlestar Galactica: Razor”) and the host of the film commentary podcast Down in Front (www.downinfront.net). Sad Max is his acting debut. He wrote the script as well as the music and lyrics for Sad Max, as well as did his own makeup and grew a beard (twice!) to realize the character on his long journey into starvation and madness.

Jim Frommeyer is a director and producer, and is known most notably for directing “A Very Calvin and Hobbes Christmas“, the short film, produced by Chrystie, that swept through the blogosphere in winter of 2011.